Assistant Castile Fire Chief Brian Brown said the building is a total loss and expects demolition of the structure, largely gutted by the fire, to begin on Wednesday morning.

The building also houses Lorraine's, a restaurant, whose owner Lorraine Qutermous resided in an upstairs apartment.

A woman who identified herself as Qutermous' sister told WGRZ-TV the family has been unable to contact her, and that she fears that she perished in the fire.

"We have not located the owner, and that is part of the ongoing investigation," said Wyoming County Sheriff Farris Heimann. "I don't have anything else to say other than we have not located her yet," Heimann said, declining to say whether or not officials believe Qutermous was home at the time the fire broke out.

The Castile Fire Department says it appears the fire started on the second floor of the building.

Village and town officials announced declared states of emergencies for their respective communities because their governments had no effective means of functioning normally.

Castile Town and Village officials say many records which were destroyed in the blaze, while of historic significance, were not the type of documents needed to operate their respective governments on a day-to-day basis.

"We were able to save our computers, which provides a back up for the day to day operations stuff," said Town Supervisor Stephen Tarbell. "Some of our forms, water meter books, and things like that we were also able to save," Tarbell said, as he gazed about a room filled with documents rescued from the building and piled on tables at the fire hall next door.